The Elevator Pitch

My (John) mom sent me an e-mail last week asking for a short description of the ship's ministry: An "Elevator Pitch". I thought that the answer carries relevance for all who are tracking with us.

The Logos Hope ship has an international crew of 350 people from 40 nations. Together, we have three areas of focus: Knowledge, Help, and Hope.

Knowledge in the form of books and seminars - a 6,000 title book fair, and seminars ranging from business to discipleship training.

Help in the form of community development and outreach - construction projects from houses to playgrounds, and community events like trash pickup teams and visiting hospitals and orphanages.

Hope in the form of practical and relational evangelism: living Christ's loving kindness to the in-firmed, imprisoned, homeless, drug addicted, orphaned, widowed, rich, poor, employed, bored, troubled, scared, timid, nominal, and lost.

Soon we will be traveling from port to port, stopping for two to three weeks in each port. The past six months have been a unique time while the ship has been outfitted for the above ministry.

I think that covers what the ship does.... and to answer the question "What do John, Jennifer and the rest of the ship's company actually do each day?" Here you go... Everyone has a 40 hr/wk job that contributes to running the ship ministry. There are six divisions on board the ship:

1) Marine operations: Deck - mooring, chipping rust and painting, watch keeping, and driving the ship; Engine - mechanical engineers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and welders.

2) Hotel & Catering: cleaning the inside of the ship, cooking 1600 meals/day baking bread, cake, cookies, and catering events.

3) Corporate Services: finances, room bookings, van bookings, airline tickets, administration, purser, and A/V.

4) Public ministries: event planning, ministry opportunity planning, and line up- teams sent two to three months ahead of the ship to a port to connect and facilitate births, customs, and other partnership.

5) Personnel: Training, health care, school, personnel, and community development.

6)Partner ministries: Guest relations, communications, public relations, and development/fund raising.

I now work in the partner development/ fundraising department of the partner ministries division. Jennifer works in the guest relations department of the same division.

Hope that's helpful! :)

STEP Program

We wanted to let all of our friends and partners know about an awesome program on board called STEP (Short Term Exposure Program), where crew members can join the ship for just three months! The Logos Hope's next STEP opportunity is currently open for registration if any of you are interested! This STEP will begin on March 17 and run through June 2. STEP gives a unique experience for people to experience life on board and has been a great way for people to decide whether they want to join for the two year Global Action program (the program we're apart of!). STEP is open to people over 18 and will give them the opportunity to work alongside crew members and receive practical and spiritual input. Watch these two great videos about Lydia and Jacob to learn more about STEP! (Click on their names to pull up the video). Lydia is one of our ship children so make sure to watch her video! :) Visit www.logoshope.org/step for more info about STEP.

More Great Opportunities this Weekend

I (Jennifer) had the opportunity to lead two trainings again this weekend on hospitality! What a great opportunity. I'm really enjoying the chance to train and interact with so many crew members on board. John and I also lead a "trash pickup" team this weekend. Since we're hoping to soon be leaving Denmark, many crew members are dedicated to making Koge an even better, nicer place then it was when we arrived. Many teams went out this weekend to pick up trash around town and "beautify" the city before we leave.


Jennifer leading her training!

Morning Devotions

Each morning, our entire crew gets together from 7:30 - 8:00am for a time of sharing and devotion. We recently just finished an excellent series on Religions of the World. We studied Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness and Roman Catholicism. We both had studied all of these world religions in high school, but since that was over ten years ago, it was great to have a refresher course. Truly fascinating. We're now doing series on Heroes of the Bible. So far, we've studied Abraham, Mary, Daniel, Peter and Joshua. We're really enjoying studying each of these characters in depth.

Leading my First Ship Tour!

Everyday, we have several people that come on board the ship desiring to learn more about the Logos Hope and take a tour of the ship. I've (Jennifer) helped out with several tours in the past, but today I had my first chance to actually lead the tour! What fun! I think I'm a natural! ;) ha ha! We are so incredibly thankful for all the new opportunities we've had in the past five months. Tour guide Jennifer, here I come!

Great Weekend!

Since the Logos Hope will most likely be sailing in the very near future, we decided we better get up to Copenhagen this weekend (possibly for the last time!). We have really come to love this city. In many ways, it reminds us quite a bit of San Francisco (minus the hills!). There is lots of diversity and culture, with loads of locally owned cafes, restaurants, and shops. The city is also filled with incredible museums and historical sites. On Saturday, we headed up to the city and spend most of the day at the Danish National Museum. What a place! The majority of the museum featured the history of the country, but there were many other displays from countries around the world. What an awesome time. All the signs and descriptions where in both English and Danish, so we were thankful for that! While in the city, we also sampled the world famous Danish open faced sandwiches called "Smørrebrød." We've heard great things about these tasty sandwiches, so were thrilled to finally get our hands on some. Wow, what a treat! YUMMY!

After spending the day in the city, we enjoyed a great jazz concert on board the ship. A local jazz band had visited the ship and was so impressed, they offered to put on a free concert for crew members and locals. How cool! John and I both LOVE jazz, so it was a real treat.

We also had the opportunity to attend a local Danish church this morning. Unfortunately, a translator wasn't available, but we still very much enjoyed being able to join local Danes in worshiping the Lord this morning. Praise God that we're finally feeling better and had a wonderful weekend of rest, relaxation and fun!

Leading Trainings!

We've been the recipient of many incredible trainings over the past five months, so it was a real honor when I (Jennifer) was finally asked to LEAD a training! As many of you know, in my last job at Friends for Youth, I led quite a few trainings, so I have been eager to spread my wings on board and help start leading trainings. I had my first opportunity to lead a training this past Friday for the new crew on board. I led a training on "hospitality" (on the topic in general and also specifically in regards to the Logos Hope). I think it went really well! What fun to be able to connect with the new crew and introduce them to the very important topic of showing hospitality to all of the guests and visitors that come on board the ship. I also led another training on "hosting" both this Saturday and Sunday. I led this training for current crew on board. Each overnight guest that stays on the ship is assigned a "host" to make them feel welcome, show them around the ship, connect them to the ship's ministry, etc. The purpose of the training was to prepare all of our crew members to become excellent hosts! What a blessing to be able to be able to give back to the ship's community this weekend. Praise God for this opportunity.